


Hold Me Down, Just For Tonight

by isengard



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M, sad future headcanons, what even is this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-22
Updated: 2013-03-22
Packaged: 2017-12-06 03:43:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/731095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isengard/pseuds/isengard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bart is drunk.  Jaime finds him.  Or, they find each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold Me Down, Just For Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> for [Kim](http://kim-is-a-klainer.tumblr.com).

Jaime finds Bart zipping around the Grand Canyon like it's a freaking pinball machine. He hovers in the air for a few minutes, watching the nearly invisible streak of his friend's frenetic path, and the whole thing is actually a little amusing - until Bart trips.

Bart _trips_.

Jaime's heart feels like it's twisting in his chest as he swoops down low, scanning the area for Bart's heat signature. He doesn't feel any better when he spots Bart sprawled out in a patch of brush, until he sees that Bart is laughing.

"Dude!" He flies over, nudging Bart's knee with his elbow when Bart kicks his legs into the air. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Mm?" Bart asks, rolling onto his side, still laughing. "I'm _running_ , bro. In the Grand Canyon. The _Grand Canyon_!" He throws his hands up like it's the craziest thing in the world. "It's empty!"

Jaime feels like he's missing something substantial here. Bart's hand suddenly shoots to his wrist and tugs, and Jaime complies warily. They lie side by side, and when Jaime retracts his armor, the smell of liquor assaults his senses.

"Bart, are you _drunk_?"

"Might be," Bart says vaguely, still gesturing with both hands. "Took more than usual. Future stuff's stronger. Hey, have you ever had a piña colada? Damn, those things are good. I drank like, ten. Could go for another, actually - "

"Whoa there hermano, slow down." Jaime rolls his eyes at Bart's grin. "I know, I know. Seriously, though. You shouldn't be drinking, dude. You're thirteen."

Bart blinks at him and then sits up very suddenly. "People keep _saying_ that. I _know_ how old I am." His expression is dark, and Jaime doesn't know what to make of it. "I knew it was gonna be different, you know? I knew I was gonna have to act different, but I didn't realize how much everyone was gonna treat me, like. Like I'm some kind of _kid_."

Jaime raises an eyebrow. "Well, you _are_ a kid," he reasons. "We're all kids."

Bart laughs without humor. "Hermano, I hate to break it to you, but I haven't been a kid since I was seven years old." He rubs at a spot at the back of his head absently, a nervous habit. Bart doesn't know that Jaime knows about his tattoo, the crude brand of scar tissue hidden under his hair that reads _MetaGene: Active_ in the language of the Reach. It's never been a good time to bring it up, and Jaime's fairly sure that now would be the _worst_ possible time to mention that he's seen it.

He decides to change the subject.

"What did you mean, 'it's empty'?"

"It's empty!" Bart shouts again, donning a huge smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. "Totally clean! No ships, no camps, just, um," he snaps his fingers, searching for a word, "Nature!"

"So, what, in the future, this place is some kind of alien fortress?"

"Used to be," Bart nods, slumping back down to the ground. "They turned it into a dump, though."

"Shit, seriously?" Jaime looks around them. "This whole place, filled up with trash?"

Bart doesn't say anything for a long moment, and when he turns to look at him, his face looks years older, etched with pain that Jaime's only seen slip through once or twice. He catches Bart's eyes, and doesn't look away.

"Not trash," Bart shakes his head. "You know. People."

Jaime's stomach feels sick. " _Bodies_?"

Bart shrugs. "Mostly."

"Jesus, Bart, I…" He doesn't know what to say. It's a future he's instrumental in creating. It's worse than the worst thing he's imagined, worse than the screams from his nightmares. He wants to fly into space, get as far away from Planet Earth as possible. Maybe once he reaches the opposite end of the universe, skips dimensions a few times, maybe then the world will be safe.

Bart's fingers wrap around his wrist again, gentle. "I'm sorry. That was very un-crash of me. Spoilers and all. Blame it on the piña coladas."

Jaime doesn't know what makes him do it, but he slides his hand up and intertwines their fingers, holding tight, searching for purchase. Something that'll keep him on the ground, at least for now. "I think we both know alcohol's not to blame for this one."

"Let's just say it is," Bart says, squeezing his hand, turning on his side to face him. "For posterity's sake."

Jaime's heart is pounding in his chest again, now for entirely different reasons. It feels like the sound is echoing off his armor. When Bart closes the distance between them so that their noses are brushing together, he thinks it might actually explode.

"We can blame alcohol for this one, too, if you want," Bart whispers, and Jaime tastes the words on his own tongue.

He says, " _Bart_."

Bart smirks. "Nuh-uh. You gotta seal the deal, Blue. I'm just a kid, remember?"

Neither of them are old enough to get a driver's license, to go to bars, to go to war. But they're in a war anyways, Jaime realizes, they're _always_ in a war, and Bart's been losing his fight since day one. They're _not_ kids. They don't _get_ to be kids, and if they stop fighting, no one else will either.

Jaime pulls Bart to him, pulls in the taste of coconut and rum, the smell of dirt and sweat and other things that should be unpleasant but somehow aren't at all. They kiss without urgency, taking their time with the slick slide of tongues and puffs of hot breath and fingers in hair, under the stars at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, because it slows time down, puts the future and the bloodshed off for at least a few more minutes.

They're not kids, Jaime thinks, but getting drunk and making out in the bushes is probably as close as they're gonna get for a while, so right now, he'll take as much of it as he can.


End file.
